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Flames Notebook 11.12.08

Welcome to the Flames Update page, a collection of notes, quotes and anecdotes.

It includes Calgary Flames news, notes, quotes and anecdotes updated throughout the week with information from practices, games and morning skates.

Thursday Dec. 11, 2008

BACK HOME, BRIEFLY

After a lengthy road trip during which the weather posed some issues, the Calgary Flames are back home for a game Friday against Florida at the Pengrowth Saddledome.

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They have a few days to wash some clothes before packing again for a two-game trip with stops in St. Louis and Minnesota -- the first match-up of the season with the Northwest Division Wild.

After that, they are back home for for five straight through the holiday season.

The Flames had a recovery day on Thursday with most of the players doing off-ice workouts.

PHANEUF EATING UP MINUTES

Flames defenceman Dion Phaneuf saw plenty of ice time on the recent four-game road trip logging 114 minutes, or an average of 28 minutes per game. He logged more than 33 minutes against the Red Wings on Wednesday in a 4-3 overtime loss.

Here's a breakdown of Phaneuf's time, points and shots through the four games.

Versus

Ice Time

Shots

Points

St. Louis

29:02

5

4

NYR

24:30

3

1

Montreal

28:20

2

0

Detroit

33:13

6

2

SOLID PERFORMANCE

Curtis McIhinney admits he was a little nervus when he was told he was to face the Stanley Cup Champion Detroit Red Wings on Wednesday at Joe Louis Arena. Afterall, it was just his second start of the season and the importance of the game, the final match in a four-game road trip, was not lost on the goaltender.

McElhinney

McIlhinney found out he woudl start around noon. The Flames decided to rest No. 1 Miikka Kiprusoff who played the previous night in Montreal, after travel delayed the Flames arrival in Detroit until about 3 a.m. in the morning.

"I was releaxed on the whole. It helps when the team goes out and scores a couple early and you get some saves on the first period," said McIlhinney, born not far from Detroit in London, Ont., but raised in Calgary. Indeed the Flames had staked themselves to a 2-0 lead after the first period and McIlhinney made 10 stops to keep the Red Wings attack at bay. In the second the Wings struck for the only goal. The Flames again put up a two-goal lead before Henrik Zetterberg pounced on a rebound at 9:51. And then things went sideways for the Flames as the Wings scored the equalizer on a screen shot to force overtime and then, again on a screen shot, this one courtesy of Niklas Lidstrom, won the game in overtime.

"In the second and third period they came hard to the net," said the Flames goaltender. "I didn't see any of the last two goals. When you give a player (Lidstrom) with that much experience, that much time he is going to do something with it."

McIlhinney finished with 35 saves, many of them of the spectacular variety, in the loss. Nobody pinned the loss on him although he would have loved to beat the Red Wings -- his father cheered for the Wings when the family was living in London.

"He was a die-hard Wings fan. It would have been special to beat them," said McIlhinney.

If anything, the back-up proved he can play and that just might earn him another start in one of the back-to-back games the Flames play in St. Louis and Minnesota this comeing Tuesday and Wednesday.

Wednesday Dec. 10, 2008

FLAMES PROSPECT HONOURED BY OHL

T.J. Brodie scored three goals and 14 assists for 17 points in only nine games on defence for the Saginaw Spirit with a plus-minus rating of plus-5 to earn OHL defenceman of the month honour for November.

Brodie helped lift the Spirit to a record of 8-2-0-1 in the month of November where they currently rest third in the Western Conference standings. Brodie registered a point in eight of his nine November games, five of which were multi-point games. His best performance came on November 22 when he scored a shorthanded goal and four assists for five points in a 5-2 road win over the Barrie Colts where he was named first star of the game. Brodie also competed with Team OHL at the 2008 ADT Canada Russia Challenge on November 20 in Guelph.

Brodie, an 18-year-old from Dresden, ON, is in his third season with the Spirit and is well on pace for his best offensive season currently ranked fifth among OHL defencemen in scoring with five goals and 20 assists for 25 points in 20 games. Brodie was drafted in the fourth round, 114 overall by the Calgary Flames in the 2008 NHL Entry Draft.